Can anyone share what the possible terms are under College Membership? Is "Seeking College Membership" the only possible status prior to receiving the college? Is there a way to tell if your preferred colleges have passed you over?

Just directly from BoGSed to "conditional offer made" one hour ago.

approx. 2 weeks ago - BoGSed.


FINALLY！！！

Hey guys! I got my conditional offer a couple of weeks ago and still no word from Colleges..

I'm really torn between accepting Cambridge's offer or Michigan's! Since I really want to extend my stay after LLM for at least a couple of years, I feel like the US is the best place.

Do you guys have any idea if getting a temporary job in the UK is possible?

Obviously there are probably other things to consider besides those factors but there is such a difference in reputation between the two institutions that I think attending Cambridge would be much better career-wise :)

Nana89, indeed, there's a huge difference in reputation between both of them. And there's a financial difference as well, since Cambridge is way cheaper.

Michigan, on the other hand, is still a very traditional american law school, ranked among top 10 in the country.. My decision will obviously consider this difference.

What buggers me is the difficulty of acquiring temporary jobs in the UK after the completion of the LLM program. While it is hard in the US, I don't know a single person who earned a LLM degree from Cambridge and found a job. Do you know if it's even possible to?

Do you mean getting a training contract? A lot of my friends from Manchester Uni have started training contracts and Manchester is obviously far less reputable than Cambridge. If you have a good average from your first law degree (you must have since you have been accepted to Cambridge) and a good CV then I don´t think that getting a training contract should be that hard. Obviously it takes time and a great deal of effort. Obviously the firms in London are more competitive than some others around the country. I don´t really know that much about training contracts, just what I have witnessed with friends applying for them. So if someone knows something different then please correct me :)

Can anyone share what the possible terms are under College Membership? Is "Seeking College Membership" the only possible status prior to receiving the college? Is there a way to tell if your preferred colleges have passed you over?

I got passed over by my first choice college and my status changed to 'Unsuccessful at (first choice college), seeking college membership'. My status has not changed since then.

I have received my college membership this afternoon, Darwin. Anyone has experience with this particular college?

Do you mean getting a training contract? A lot of my friends from Manchester Uni have started training contracts and Manchester is obviously far less reputable than Cambridge. If you have a good average from your first law degree (you must have since you have been accepted to Cambridge) and a good CV then I don´t think that getting a training contract should be that hard. Obviously it takes time and a great deal of effort. Obviously the firms in London are more competitive than some others around the country. I don´t really know that much about training contracts, just what I have witnessed with friends applying for them. So if someone knows something different then please correct me :)

I have received my college membership this afternoon, Darwin. Anyone has experience with this particular college?

I have received my college membership this afternoon, Darwin. Anyone has experience with this particular college?

Do you mean getting a training contract? A lot of my friends from Manchester Uni have started training contracts and Manchester is obviously far less reputable than Cambridge. If you have a good average from your first law degree (you must have since you have been accepted to Cambridge) and a good CV then I don´t think that getting a training contract should be that hard. Obviously it takes time and a great deal of effort. Obviously the firms in London are more competitive than some others around the country. I don´t really know that much about training contracts, just what I have witnessed with friends applying for them. So if someone knows something different then please correct me :)

I really am not familiarized with the name hehe

They call it "foreign associate" program in the US. You get a study visa to spend a year on your LLM and if you get a temporary job as a foreign associate in a law firm, you get to extend your visa for another year.

Are your friends from the University of Manchester all british? I hear it's very hard if you are not from the UK. Like I said before, I haven't met a single brazilian (like me) who was able to find a temporary job in the UK after graduating.

It seems that you have quite a difficult decision to make :/ have you thought about doing the Cambridge LLM and then pursuing further graduate study? You could always go to the US to do some other graduate course after the LLM.

I have received my college membership this afternoon, Darwin. Anyone has experience with this particular college?

Darwin is close to the law faculty, but shitty in terms of food, housing and appeal in general.

It has a sort of prison feeling to it, due to its modern and tight architecture.

And if I understand correctly it is a graduate college so you wouldn´t have to worry about rowdy undergraduates partying all night long :D

Do you mean getting a training contract? A lot of my friends from Manchester Uni have started training contracts and Manchester is obviously far less reputable than Cambridge. If you have a good average from your first law degree (you must have since you have been accepted to Cambridge) and a good CV then I don´t think that getting a training contract should be that hard. Obviously it takes time and a great deal of effort. Obviously the firms in London are more competitive than some others around the country. I don´t really know that much about training contracts, just what I have witnessed with friends applying for them. So if someone knows something different then please correct me :)

I really am not familiarized with the name hehe

They call it "foreign associate" program in the US. You get a study visa to spend a year on your LLM and if you get a temporary job as a foreign associate in a law firm, you get to extend your visa for another year.

Are your friends from the University of Manchester all british? I hear it's very hard if you are not from the UK. Like I said before, I haven't met a single brazilian (like me) who was able to find a temporary job in the UK after graduating.

Ah I see, well in the UK, if you want to become a solicitor, you apply for a training contract with a law firm and then if you are accepted train for two years in different departments within the firm before qualifying. The training contract is paid but the salary is obviously smaller than what you will eventually receive after qualifying.

The only thing, if I understand correctly, is that you have to apply about two years before the start of your training - so if you receive a place now then your training would only start in two years. I´m not sure if this is the case with all of the firms and whether you could negotiate an earlier start date. Also, before you can start a training contract you need to complete a Legal Practice Course which takes one year.

This is the route most of my friends have pursued - they are not all British, quite a few overseas students :) Please, if anyone knows anything different then comment.

Thanks a lot for the useful information, guys!

law01, I'll definitely do what you suggest. I'll see if my law firm has any contacts whatsoever in the UK and stuff like that.

If push really comes to shove, I'll just start e-mailing law firms myself haha

How long did it take people from getting an offer to having a college allocated?

How long did it take people from getting an offer to having a college allocated?

Hi all - just got an email from Suzanne Wade letting me know that I've received a conditional offer for the MCL. Checked Camsis and saw this:
"The degree committee is satisfied with your application. However, your offer has not yet been approved."
A couple of questions, considering that I have work ex and have already met the language condition, am I right in assuming that the other conditions are more or less a formality? Also does anyone have any information on Cambridge setting onerous/ uncommon conditions at this stage?
Lastly, I had almost lost faith after being rejected by Oxford, so for whoever else is waiting, it isn't over till the fat lady sings! All the very best